Three Generations of Chinese Cooking
Last chance for the Mother's Day deal, Cypriot cake, Mali mosques, and the cookbook of the month
Carrying on the tradition
I’ve been a little slow in getting this family’s cookbook photo session on the blog, but it’s finally up and I’m super excited about it! This session actually took place in 2021 on Chinese New Year where I documented three generations of a Chinese-American family who gather each year to celebrate. Getting these photos up is actually great timing, because the session was dedicated to the matriarch of the family who has joyfully fed her children for decades. Those children contacted me way back in 2020 to book The Family Cookbook as a Mother’s Day gift (taking advantage of my annual Mother’s Day special, which you can as well below). After almost two years of pandemic delays, their finished cookbook arrived as is extremely gorgeous. They had a calligrapher hand paint the character for the cover of their cookbook, and interspersed it with old family photos and stories to make it a true heirloom.
To really show you how special this book is, I wanted to share an excerpt written by Grandma, who the whole experience was dedicated to:
This cookbook has been compiled in order to give my children and maybe my grandchildren a sense of why I cook. I am not a gourmet chef or even a great cook. I cook because I want my family to have a good meal and bring family and friends together.
Love and care go into every dish. Sometimes the result isn’t the best, but there are always good intentions. The togetherness and sharing of a meal are the successes. That is what makes me happy, and hopefully those who share my meals feel the same.
My recipes are not precise. I do not measure many of my ingredients. So when you
try these, keep in mind it may take a few attempts to get the dish the way you like it or the way you remember it. Regardless, I hope that just seeing the recipes brings back good and happy memories.
There are many details about this session that made it a beautiful story to capture—kids learning to use chopsticks for the first time, adult siblings vying for the first piece of char siu, all three generations quietly working at the kitchen table assembling wontons—I sincerely hope the photos do it justice. Check out the session and the finished book on the blog.
Last chance: Get a free cookbook for Mother’s Day
That annual Mother’s Day special I mentioned? It’s ending soon! Get a free copy of your finished cookbook when you request a gift box by May 1. Here’s the basics:
Head to my website and get the Family Cookbook pricing & info guide (or you can just reply to this email).
Read through the guide and request a gift box, which includes a Family Cookbook session prep packet and goodies to munch on for Mother’s Day.
Pay the $250 gift box retainer (it will be applied to your package once you schedule your photo session).
You have 1 year to get your photo session on the calendar (but you can start uploading your recipes before then).
Photo sessions are available throughout the USA—my network of amazing photographers is expanding so if I can’t personally capture your story, one of my nationally published associates can. And international sessions are slowly opening up as well.
Again, the special ends on May 1! Get in touch to get your gift box and give Mom a gift experience that creates unforgettable memories.
Cooking on Instagram
I’ve got two really delicious dishes for you in the coming weeks. The first arrives this Friday where I’ll be talking about the plastering of the Great Mosque in Mali. The Great Mosque of Djenné is the world’s largest mud-based structure, and each year the community comes together to add another layer of mud to its towering walls. If they don’t, heavy rains during the region’s wet season could damage and eventually disintegrate the building. The crépissage—or plastering—is a huge community event. Hundreds of people gather among music and food to pass buckets of mud to one another, climb the poles permanently sticking out of the mosque’s walls, and slather a new layer on its towers and facades. It’s an all-night party—and a competition. Each neighborhood has a section of the mosque to plaster, and whichever team finishes first wins a cash prize and bragging rights for the year.
There’s more to the story of this mosque and the community that preserves it. While I’m jabbering away on Instagram, I’ll be making Ndudu by Fafa’s lamb maafe, a delicious peanuty stew popular in Mali, Senegal, and other parts of West Africa.
Next week we hit Cyprus, which is celebrating its Anthestiria festival, or flower festival. I’m literally watching the explosion of pink blossoms gently fall from the tree outside my window as I type this, so I’m definitely looking forward to diving into Cypriot flower culture. Originally, this festival was celebrated by the ancient Greeks to honor the god of wine and fertility, and hold a carnival dedicated to the rebirth of man and nature—i.e. spring and the blooming flowers and plants.
While talking all things flowers, I’ll be making kalo prama, a rosewater semolina cake from Aphrodite’s Kitchen. It’s soaked in bright, lemony syrup and is perfect for spring.
Cookbook of the Month
Liguria The Cookbook: Recipes from the Italian Riviera
Laurel Evans’ book explores the Mediterranean lifestyle inspired by her Italian husband and his family, who originated in a tiny village on the coast. The area is postcard perfect, and the dishes she shares emphasize simplicity, freshness, and the tendency of small rural communities to use everything efficiently. There are a lot of fresh herbs, fish, and of course pasta. The photos are simple—they look like they were taken on the fly while collecting recipes and information about Ligurian cuisine, but it works. It feels like a sort of DIY family cookbook more than anything, and I think that’s what she was going for. For Italian food-lovers, this book is a perfect addition to your collection.